Have heard several excerpts from this CD and it is excellent. As a consumer it is very pleasing to the ear, very spiritual. As a musician I found it to have great depth and talent - very well written and composed. Not the typical neo-chant drivel one has been finding in this genre. Groovy stuff.

Exciting Masterful Album

Reviewer: Dave the Schtick - At One Yoga USA

I’m excited to share the music of Ambika Devi. It’s the perfect music to put you in the zone when needing to meditate, make love, or make love while meditating. Trancey, delicious, beautiful, masterful. The album is called Enchantment and is brand new on the Invincible Music label. If you are looking for meditative music, expertly played, superbly produced, with exceptional vocals, then you need look no further.

Party of a Yoga Album!

Reviewer: Sat Nam Phoenix AZ

Amy Ford AKA Ambika Devi’s album Enchantment is a rarity in yoga music. It mixes a plethora of styles: Buddhist, Native American, Sikh and Hindu chants with unique instrumentation like didgeridoo. The result is a fun, upbeat, danceable party of a yoga album.

Open the door into a deep and rich world, initiating the listener into a journey of spiritual empowerment and transcendence.

Enchantment can be used as a means to boost energy and give healing to the entirety of our beings. Some of the sacred mantras in this album are closer to the way I first heard them sung by my beloved teachers. Others began as written words, passed on to me through friends or discovered in my reading. These mantras transformed in my consciousness and morphed into song through divine inspiration. The stories and mythologies of many cultures fuel my creative endeavors. To the gods and goddesses of these pantheons, I give my heartfelt thanks and am forever devoted. It is through the blending of cultures and integrating of many styles of music that I wish to bring peace and acceptance to all nations of this planet. I pray that this music enlightens consciousness through the weaving of boundaries and the blending of cultures. My belief is that when we taste the food of another culture, sing words from their language and dance to their rhythms, we are able to let go of preconceived ideas and fully embrace them in love. May this music bring you joy and put a wide smile upon your face. May the beat of the drums move through you and inspire you to dance. May the blending of these musical flavors bring a sweet taste to your psyche and greater awareness and acceptance that we are all one tribe. OM, Ashe, Aho, Sat Nam! With Love and Peace, Enjoy! - Ambika Devi

The Mahakala Mantra of Kalachakra / Tibet The Mahakala mantra honors Lord Shiva as the ruler of time and the master of destiny. Shiva has a reputation as destroyer of obstacles. He is believed to be able to alter the course of destiny. Chant this powerful mantra and you have the ability to transform all substances. You can magically slow down time and gain the powers of health, wealth, and wisdom. This is achieved through devotion, ritual and chanting the Mahakala mantra over water. Drink it in and hasten both personal and planetary evolution. Let us chant the Mahakala mantra together.

2. White Tara / Tibet White Tara is the mother of all Tara energy and is seen as the feminine manifestation of the Buddha. She is the mother of liberation. Her color white represents all the colors of the rainbow. She has seven eyes. Two in the face, one is in each palm of the hands, one on each sole of the feet and a wide-open third eye. From White Tara sprung all of the other Taras in their rainbow colors. This sacred mantra was spoken softly to me by ZaChoeje Rinpoche just one time. I wrote it out, repeated it back and vowed to do right by him. It is with deep gratitude that I share this mantra with you. Ask Tara your most heartfelt wishes and she will guide you to find them. Chant to White Tara and live a long, healthy life full of serenity.

3. Elegua / West Africa Elegua comes from the West African Diaspora. He is a messenger able to cross boundaries and is also known as Hermes, Mercury, Thoth and Kokopeli. This trickster is the keeper of gates and crossroads. In Bembe celebrations he is the one who is sung to first as he opens the door and removes obstacles for us, much like Ganesha in the Hindu tradition. To vex him is to ask for trouble. I am smarter than that, having known him as a teacher for many years! Ashe Elegua!

4. Fire and Water / Original in the Native American Spirit This is the only chant in this collection for which I am responsible for the words and music. My shaman friend Serge Runningwolf Martel suggested adding the names of Mother Earth: Wakan Tonka and Father Sky: Tunkashila from his native language. When I did he smiled and chuckled, “Yes, now that sounds good!” I offer this chant to all beings of the Earth. I dedicate the soothing sounds of this chant to the spirit of Serge who has since passed on to the next dimension. May the sweetness and gentleness of this chant comfort you and take you to a peaceful place.

5. Om Namah Shivaya / India My second chant to Shiva. This mantra is a way to say “I honor the divine essence” by literally saying “In your name Shiva.” I prayed to find a unique way of singing this mantra by meditating in front of a beautiful painting I have of Lord Shiva each day. One morning when I came out of the meditation, I picked up my electric guitar and asked out loud “So Shiva, what does your song sound like?” What he sang to me is this version of his honoring. Sing praises to Shiva with me and experience the glorious vibration of his divine name!

6. Great Spirit / The Americas I use this very sacred chant to Great Spirit to attune seekers to Reiki energy. I sing it in sweat lodges and chant it over large groups of people for chakra balancing. Together we glide easily into deep meditation on its profoundly soothing sound. Here I sing it through seven times to honor each of the seven main chakras and the seven horses which draw the chariot of Surya the Sun deity across the sky each day. I sing it seven times to honor the seven directions, the seven eyes of the White Tara and the seven stars of the Pleiades. May Great Spirit come to you when you chant this and bring you peace and deep healing.

7. Sat Kriya / Kundalini Yoga and Sufi My friend Stephanie handed me a tiny piece of paper folded in half with this mantra on it. She said “Maybe you will sing it and make it into a chant.” In a very short time I began to sing this melody. Months later I was invited to play and chant for a yoga class. The teacher had the students perform an exercise called Sat Kria which uses the chant Sat Nam for energizing the whole body and raising the Kundalini. I spontaneously began to chant and play the melody over top. The structure of this chant formed itself on the pranayama exercises practiced by the yogis that day. Sat Nam is a mantra most commonly used in Kundalini Yoga. It is frequently spoken as a greeting among Sikhs similar to the use of Namaste in India. Sat Nam symbolizes truth as the divine energy. It is said to mean perfect truth and creates a knowing of one’s identity. In Sanskrit Sat Nam literally means a bowing to that which truly exists. Honor yourself and all beings as you bow to their magnificent energy while chanting this potent mantra.

Ambika Devi was introduced to Yoga at the age of seven when her mama took her to an Iyengar class. The gentle power of Yoga intrigued her and has been the beacon of her life path. At the age of nine she was introduced to a teacher of Yoga who had just returned from India. Along with a group of adults she was lead in a powerful meditation of transferred energy in which she experienced a rush of bliss when a ball of fiery energy was offered to her. The sharing of one woman's spiraling path to India and back, became the moment in which Ambika Devi's bare feet first touched the smooth rocks of her personal journey.

Music became medicine for her that day. Yoga became as familiar as breathing. Many great masters and teachers have provided her rich education and she has been a teacher of peace, harmony, healing and love both on and off the mat since the age of seventeen.

In the 80s, Ambika Devi retreated from teaching asana and turned to chant and meditation as her preferred course of study and teaching. During this time she perfected her pranayama through vocalization. Ambika Devi began to study West African style drumming after being in the presence of Babatundi Olatunji, who offered her his drum to play on. Baba became her primary teacher followed by Sanga of the Valley, his lead drummer. A progression of numerous Master Drummers from around the world followed. Amy found herself in many recording studios laying tracks for numerous artists.

Since the age of fourteen, Ambika Devi has performed with bands playing many styles of music including: Kirtan, Rock, Jazz, Latin and Reggae. Her bands toured through the United States and Mexico entertaining at resorts and parties while she worked solo as a visiting artist for Yoga classes, lead Moon Gatherings, Spiritual Circles and conducted workshops. Ambika Devi continues her work as an Urban Shaman weaving Vedanta philosophy into every aspect of her service teachings and healing sessions with groups and individual clients.

Amy Ford received the Sanskrit name Ambika Devi and title of Yoga Siromani through the Yoga Vedanta Forrest Academy. The goddess for whom she is named is a fiercely passionate guardian of the earth. Ambika Devi believes the way to honor our connection to the Earth Mother is through our sadhana, our daily practices. She teaches that to be inspired in our expression we must begin with our breath. Her favorite way to do so is through the practice of Mantra.

Ambika Devi continues to travel sharing her deliciously powerful healing voice as she teaches Classical Yoga, Mantra, Meditation, Yoga Nidra and dance. As a Reiki Master she uses toning to attune her students. As a Yoga and dance teacher, she sings her classes into bliss. As a performer she spreads love from her heart with the magic of her drumming and vocals and as a healer she aligns the energy of her clients with the strength of her vibrations through drumming and toning. You may contact her to engage her for groups and personal sessions.